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Meet the divine Dude in this blog. This Dude has had and seen his share of sacred shit. He's not afraid of it or of its language. I can't relate to a god that's been crucified, but I can relate to one whom my government has imprisoned and humiliated. I can relate to one who's been raped by his own holy men. I can relate to one who grew up playing baseball or soccer and who dated the Prom Queen. I can relate to the god who knows the working of corporate conglomerates, pimps, and teen-age girls who are pregnant. I can relate to the god who loves alcoholics and drug addicts just a tad more than wall street hotshots. This Dude thinks all of us are mortal particles in an ocean of sacred shit. This Dude recycles.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Political Violation and the Night Sky

So, Muhammad Ali Jr. and his mother were detained by the TSA for an hour and 45 minutes when they tried to get back into the US after a vacation in Jamaica. Both are US citizens with US passports. Both, when asked their religion, stated they are Muslim. And then the detention began.

Does anyone remember the separation of Church and State in the US Constitution? Did anyone note that they should have the rights of citizens? Did anyone care that they weren't even returning from one of the seven deadly middle eastern sins, oops, I mean countries on the "do not enter" list? I have watched with increasing horror the unconstitutional, uncivilized and uncouth behavior of Donald Trump and his lackeys. I have taken in the unabashed bigotry shown in the treatment of Muslims, Latinos, and women. I have seen the prejudice that not only is extended towards any group that's not white male but also in the intentional dismantling of the many accomplishments of the previous president who happens to be black and have a Muslim-sounding name.

Detaining Ali Jr. and his mom was the last straw for me. It tells me that even if the courts ban Trump's actions, his rhetoric is so strong that it causes minimum wage workers way down the chain of command to carry out his rhetorical wishes as if they were laws. Like despots before him, yelling loud and often enough at the populace is a way that he might get that populace to do the dirty work of promoting one mad man at the expense of all groups that don't fit his profile or do his bidding (or who fit the profile and do his bidding but slip up and show that they don't really like him).

I don't know why that was the last straw. Maybe because it violated so many fundamental rights granted to US citizens that I can't even wrap my mind around it. But there are so many other violations as well. Violation of the freedom of the press. Violation of scientific research. Violation of credibility in misrepresenting credentials from a prestigious university (lying, in other words). Violation of women's rights in words and actions. My hope has been that the separation of the executive branch from the judicial and legislative ones would contain the vicious agenda of Trump. Watching security people carry out his wishes and ignore law and conscience tipped the scale for me.

We're a young country, barely an adolescent compared to the middle eastern countries we're targeting. Like many a young punk, we're carried away by our own importance and refusing to heed the advice of our elders (European allies, for example). Trump's brash hubris reminds me of Gwendolyn Brook's poem "We Real Cool." It speaks of seven young men who think they're "real cool" and so they leave school and hang out drinking and doing whatever the heck they want. The poem ends with "We die soon." The US is has thought itself "real cool" in becoming a "player" at such a young age as nations go. At some point, we had to hit a wall of stupidity brought on by our youth--that moment when youthful exuberance leaves behind the guidance of wisdom and embraces its own ignorance as if it were the holy grail. We're in that moment.

Deep breath. I went out to look at the night sky. The stars and planets were in their places. Orion's belt and the Big Dipper hold firm. I felt the presence of a higher good. I remembered how small we are in the big scheme of thing.